Advent season at 30° - SNOW, PLEASE!

meanwhile, it's already the day after the 1st advent. time to get this posted!
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today is the 1st advent. if my dad would not have sent me an email with all the best advent wishes, i would have totally forgot about it. which is not that tricky - it's 30° outside. although the whole inner singapore is fully decorated with xmas lights and ornaments, the real xmas feeling is light-years away. to be honest, i find that quite sad - but i would be daft to drink mulled wine under the singaporean weather conditions. thus, i need to use my imagination - and try the skiing hall to get my portion of snow.

thus, instead of xmas drinks, i had mango lassi in little india. yes, it's sunday evening again and little india is a must at that time, at least for me. as mentioned once, it's simply a great experience. that small area is packed with people. well, actually it's packed with male people. i have no idea where all women and kids are, but apparently the sunday night is made for the guys.

thus, hundreds and thousands of indian men stand and sit and hang around in small alleys, on squares and sidewalks. the shops are bursting at the seams, the car traffic almost comes to a complete stop, and a single person becomes one big crowd with all the others. a crowd that is pushed objectlessly from one point to another. escaping is almost impossible, not to mention stopping no matter for what reason. it's one big flow, approaching from all sides - an ocean of unfamiliar faces, voices, smells.

of course it is not enough that this big crowd already produces a distinctive noise level. NO, of course the quarter is also packed with shops, markets, street vendors. and if music store A on the left side of dunlop st decides to play the latest indian newcomer, then music store B (which is either next door or on the other side) MUST play its own favorite. i should also metion that the loudspeakers are not really ultra-modern. and nevertheless - even the world's best speakers have a certain tolerance level. at a specific volume, music does not sound like music anymore. however (and guess what): it's GREAT fun to be in the middle of these two shops.

there are also promotion stalls everywhere, mainly for phonecards (local or overseas to, GUESS, india). same game, basically. the singtel (mobile network no.01) dude tries to be louder than the m1 dude (mobile networkno.02), and is additionally facing BOISTEROUS competition from the overseas phone card fella. the dude's solution then is to climb on chairs and tables, speak faster, scream louder ... until ecstasy is only a click away. i'm always wondering someone even understand what these guys are screaming. probably, they do not even understand their own words - no surprise if you would see their promotion equipment (they kind of sound like radio emcees in the 50s - on short wave).

a common thing among indian men is to hold hands and arms, an walk along arm in arm. what looks strange in first place is a totally normal thing. holding hands here is a meaningful sign of deep friendship (not what you thought. JESUS!). however ... it is cute and weird at the same time. guys in germany usually walk arm in arm ONLY if the last beer was one too much. by the way: one of india's beer is called 'knock out' .... CHEERS (it has almost 10% alcohol)!

beside that, and as mentioned once, shops have the best offers in town. jeans are 3 - 5€. t-shirt are as cheap as 1€. one shop even claims to sell the whole product range BELOW COST! since this seems to work in reality (forget the whole business and economics theories - this is a real life case), i will copy this business model for my first firm. apparently, i won't need accountants then. i just purchase at price x, and sell for x-1 ... EASY!

did i mention that little india is a lovely place? and that indian food is fantastic, too? that indian people rather use their hands to eat their tandori briyami? that mango lassis can cover one whole meal if served in a 500ml glass? apparently, i need to visit the real india one day ... (better not now, i guess). meanwhile, i will take my camera soon and film the whole spectacle.

meanwhile, i'm listening to the 'dynamo live radio' - my favorite football club that (right now and, that's not really a surprise) is 0:1 behind. why am i not a real manchester united supporter? nevermind ...

the last weeks were quite busy ones. days in the offices stretched from 8am till 8 or 9pm. two bigger projects were running at the same time, and many things had to be done until last minute. but now that we finished both successfully, the weeks until xmas should be smooth and relaxed. lovely ...

in order to reward myself i will fly to hong kong on early thursday morning for almost 5 days, and meet felix, a fellow student from aarhus. xmas and new year is also fixed and will bring me to koh tao and railay beach in thailand (not by plane, though). and in between, i still try to see and experience as much of singapore as possible without falling into stress.

today was one of these days. leaving the house at 11, breakfast at a coffee store (rather due to heavy rain than to intention), and then national museum, OOHOOOH. a photo exhibition of a taiwanese artist was shown. themed 'doubleness', he portrayed e.g. chinese families that are separated - the husband (illegally) living and working in chinatown, new york in search for a better life (money, money, money), and the families back in china that, though they suddenly have a much better (materialistic) life, faces the loss of the main family member. something that was meant to be a a lucky chance turned out to be a family's tragedy. very impressive, dramatic, and touching photos. another part of the exhibition pictures the story of vietnamese women that (voluntarily or not) were sold to taiwanese men, in order to get married. again, very moving pics.

afterwards, i just went over to the singapore art museum (where we, currently, display the highlights from the daimler art collection), and checked not only ours (OURS ... funny), but also a japanese exhibition - fresh, funny, colorful bits of japanese media and entertainment. since it was raining (again), i played a bit more of nintendo wii with on of the exhibition guides, hehe.

later, i spend two hours in the arab quarter, planned a bit for xmas (i should have planned hong kong, instead), and DID some things for my upcoming master thesis - which, in fact, means that i read at least some articles about corporate social responsibility.

due to the fact that i met a lot of (business) people on several company events lately (it pays off to work in the external affairs department, hehe), the network regarding my thesis increased - however, the level of insight about a clear topic is still ... rather ... low. SURPRISE! if anyone has an idea, PLEASE let me know.

beside that, i finally uploaded my manila photos (plus some more ... and another 1.000 are still pending ....).

hong kong's next ... let's see what happens there!


cheers everyone!